New article: Policies to Address Emerging Tensions among Supermarkets, Suppliers, and Traditional Retailers

Supermarkets (short for all modern retail) are spreading quickly in developing countries. The "take-off" occurred as recently as the early/mid 1990s, driven by an avalanche of foreign direct investment (FDI) sparked by retail FDI liberalization. A decade on, the power and dominance of supermarkets is already felt in the food markets of many developing countries, and tensions between supermarkets and traditional retailers, and supermarkets and their suppliers, are emerging as key policy and political debates. The paper analyzes those tensions. Then it reviews the US and Western European history and current experience in designing policies (regulations and support programs) to address those tensions. It ends with an analysis of emerging policy approaches to the supermarket sector and the tensions its growth is creating in developing countries, and recommendations.

Full article: 

Reardon, T. and R. Hopkins. 2006. "The Supermarket Revolution in Developing Countries: Policies to Address Emerging Tensions among Supermarkets, Suppliers, and Traditional Retailers, European Journal of Development Research, 18(4), December.